


A promise for tomorrow

by penguinloser182



Series: A Promise For Tomorrow Series [1]
Category: X-Men
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-20 12:49:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9491594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penguinloser182/pseuds/penguinloser182
Summary: What if Rogue hadn’t been born to be destined to be a mutant? What if she had no clue what a mutant was? What if the world didn’t even know what a mutant was? What if one troublesome day she discovers a crafty thief with beautiful ruby on black eyes and he lures her into the world of mutants? What if by some crazy chance she becomes a mutant and cannot control her powers?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Although this story has the x-men they do not follow the comics or movies other than the fact that there is the university, the x-men and their powers. It does not follow any story arcs. Please remember this when reading. I do not own any of the characters nor their stories but i do hope you enjoy my take on it.

I guess in some ways life how I knew it was simplistic and easy. There was only black and white and that’s how it was. Right and wrong. But the truth was it wasn’t that simple and I was the one that was wrong. Oh so very wrong. The person I was, down to my soul was going to change. Everything, all with one look, one wink. A flash, a blink of an eye. I was plunged into a world that I didn’t know, nor did I understand. It wasn’t talked about. It wasn’t expressed. I guess, maybe looking back, I was just naïve to the whole thing, closed off to what was really around me. Would I go back if I could, knowing then what I know now? 

New Orleans, known mostly for the mysterious allure of voodoo and ghosts, culture and food. I stepped from the street car breathing in the smells of the city. Even after being there for a few days the sights were still overwhelming and I couldn’t seem to get enough of everything.  
I smiled to myself as I walked down the street towards the café I was supposed to be meeting my closest friends. The streets were already bright and festive for the spirit of Halloween. Shops were decorated with creepy skeletons, and witch hats, ghost cut outs, and little black cats. Jack o lanterns were carved and setting out beside doors for patrons to examine and enjoy. The season made me smile even now. I tucked my hands into the pockets of my leather crop jacket and continued forward taking in all the sights and sounds around me.  
My attention diverted from all the decorations as my friend Kristin waved to me. I smiled as I jogged lightly to the small out door café. I hugged her before sitting down to join her.  
“Melissa and Lauren should be here soon,” she explained her gaze focusing on the menu.  
“So, how was last night?” she asked absently. She heard me exhale heavily. She knew how last night had gone. I had been left alone while they all hooked up with random guys, which was fine for them, but not for me.  
I shrugged as if it hadn’t bothered me my eyes drifting to the menu. “Was alright,” I told her.  
“I’m sorry we ditched you,” she finally said. And out of all of them I knew she meant her apology.  
“Its okay Kris,” I insisted as I sat the menu down. “I know you guys came down here to meet guys and stuff.” I remembered nodding sadly. I wasn’t exactly someone who had guys beating the door down. I had a lot of convictions, and a lot of high expectations of people, especially guys. It took a lot for one to impress me and as of lately I hadn’t found a single one that didn’t bore me.

“But hey, maybe you can find someone at the parade tonight to entertain you,” she half joked. She of all my friends really wished the best for me, but she didn’t understand that I just wasn’t looking for anyone to entertain me. I just wanted to visit New Orleans for the atmosphere, I didn’t care about meeting and hooking up with guys. New Orleans was full of beauty and I wanted to soak it all in.  
“Nah, I don’t think I’ll go tonight,” I began to try and back out of the plans we had already made.  
“No, come on Rogue you can’t,” Kristin pleaded.  
“Can’t what?” a voice came up from behind us. It was Melissa in all her full figure feminine presence.  
“She’s trying to ditch us tonight,” Kristin whined.  
“Oh you can’t do that. This is going to be an awesome night,” Lauren insisted. Out of all of us Lauren’s Mississippi accent was the strongest, which was saying a lot as a southern belle.  
“I didn’t say I wasn’t going to go, I just said I didn’t think I would.” I tried to recant, but by the looks on all their faces I knew I was stuck.  
“Fine, I’ll go,” I finally gave in. I immediately regretted agreeing.


	2. Chapter 2

The night started off as expected, the three of them took forever to get ready for the night. I sat bored waiting for them to primp and pamper themselves. I sighed waiting for them all to finish up. I touched up my eye liner and flipped my auburn hair over my shoulder as they all exited the bathroom finally ready to leave.  
The streets were lined with people drinking and awaiting the masked participates and marching bands. I shoved my hands into my cropped leather jacket trying to see what was happening. The jazz music filled the streets. Yelling and cheering permeated throughout the alleys.   
“Well we lost Melissa already,” Lauren pointed out. My gaze turned to a young blond guy whispering in her. I’m not sure if what he was saying was really as funny as Melissa was making it out or the alcohol she had already consumed was taking affect. I rolled my eyes as I turned my attention back to the crowds. My attention diverted to see something move in the shadows.   
“Hey,” I snapped back from the shadow to Kristin.  
“Hey,” I shouted back.  
“You gonna be okay?” she asked pointing back to two other guys standing in the corner. I smiled weakly. Didn’t see this coming at all. I nodded my reassurance.  
“Yeah, go have fun, I’m just gonna watch for a little while then go back to the room,” I insisted.  
“You sure? I can stay,” she told me.  
“No, I’ll be fine. Go have fun. I’ll see you back at the room.” She gave me a hug before dashing to the guys behind us. I watched them dart off. A hard body smacked hard into me.  
“Hey watch it jerk,” I yelled. The trench coat wafted in front of me. Sunglasses firmly over his eyes. His jaw was strong, chiseled with what looked like a few days stubble shadowing his chin and jaw. Auburn hair hung over the top of the sunglasses.  
“Je m’excuse,” the man smiled bowing slightly before he disappeared in the crowd. I immediately checked my pockets for some reason.  
“HEY!” I shouted chasing after him. I ran down the back alleys trying to find him. The music still loud in my ears. There he stood a smirk on his face holding my clip of money. He threw it down to the ground before disappearing down another alley again.  
“What the hell?” I questioned as I walked to retrieve my money that had been discarded.  
Frustrated I was ditched and almost robbed I turned and left to go back to the hotel. Just as I thought my night couldn’t get any worse as the crowds were dissipating the clouds opened up and rain began to fall.  
“Great, just. Great,” I moaned as the rain poured down. Now frustrated and soaked all I wanted to do was leave and call it a night.

Opening the door to the hotel room I stripped out of my drenched leather crop jacket and flannel tossing them in the corner of the room. As I went to turn on the light I caught a glimpse of a shadow. Startled I called out.  
“Who’s there?” I flipped on the light switch to find no one was there. A chill filled the air as I saw the window opened blowing breeze into the room. I approached with caution as I stepped toward it to look outside. I swallowed with worry before realizing the coast was clear and no one was there.  
“Mind must be playing tricks on me.” I murmured shutting the window and locking it. I hugged myself in worry as I walked to the bathroom to try and clean myself up. After a hot shower to warm myself up I threw on my oversized tee shirt, towel drying my auburn hair before sitting on the bed. I sighed in thought glancing at the alarm clock on the night stand. 9 o’clock. The others wouldn’t be back for hours, if at all.  
I reached over grabbing the remote and turning the T.V on. I flipped through the channels making myself more comfortable on the bed stretching out on my back with the remote laying on my stomach when I found something worth watching. The night’s events began to tug at the corners of my eyes as the show drabbled on. I tried to fight the sleepiness but I knew it was no good.   
Dreams of strange men in shadows invaded my dreams. I couldn’t make out faces as I tried to run down an alley way. I turned corners and continued to end up on the street I had seen the man who tried to rob me. He was always at the end of the street, and the mob of faceless men was always behind me no matter how much I tried to run away.  
I woke up breathing heavily. Something about that man had me on edge, other than the fact that he tried to steal from me. I threw my legs over the side of the bed looking at the clock once again. 12. Still no sign of the girls. I sighed standing up to get a drink of water before trying to go back to sleep.  
I wasn’t sure why I was even thinking of the guy in the alley. Maybe I was having some kind of PTSD. Was that possible? He didn’t hurt me, he didn’t steal anything. Not that I knew of. I went to where I had discarded my clothes and took my wallet out to look through it. I hadn’t even thought to go through it at that point. My money was still there, my credit cards, everything except.  
“My driver’s license. Why would he want my driver’s license?” I said out loud. “Get a grip, it probably fell out when he took it from you,” I rationalized with myself turning off the light in the bathroom and trying to go back to sleep.

“Wow you look like crap,” Kristin addressed me as I met them in the lobby for breakfast.  
“Gee thanks,” I answered annoyed.  
“You guys just getting here?” I asked turning the attention back to them.  
“Yeah,” Melissa answered with a broad smile on her face.  
“Wish you would have come out too.” Kristin stated. I gave her a weak smile.  
“How as your night?” Lauren questioned as she shoved a piece of bacon into her mouth.  
“I got rained on,” I answered deciding to leave out the part of almost getting robbed. I mean I hadn’t really been, not really. I just lost my I.D, I could have done that myself, and it wasn’t as if I had been hurt.  
“I’m sorry,” Kristin sympathized with me.   
“It’s okay,” I told her. I didn’t want her to feel bad for having fun. I was enjoying New Orleans I didn’t want my friends to not enjoy it cause they thought I wasn’t.  
“Let’s all do something tonight,” Melissa insisted.  
“What do we wanna do?” Lauren piped in.  
“We haven’t had a chance to go look at any of the cemeteries yet,” Kristin threw in. I shrugged not really caring.  
“Sure,” I agreed. I hadn’t told them I had already done most of the sightseeing myself while they were hooking up.  
“Yay,” Kristin squealed.

We decided to walk to the closest cemetery near us. We walked down the main street and down a small one way street with a few dark alleys tucked into it. I fell behind wondering if my eyes were still playing tricks on me. I paused as I saw something duck into the corner of a back alley.  
I looked forward at my friends who had been distracted and hadn’t paid any attention that I had fallen behind. I took my hands from my jacket pockets and walked down the dingy alley. The only light that filled the back alley flickered. I swallowed back my cowardice and proceeded forward. A shape formed out of the corner of my eye startling me as it came into view, a strong hand gripped me firmly by the elbow.  
My eyes adjusted to dim lighting catching a full image of his face for the first time.  
“You’re that thief that tried to rob me,” I exclaimed jerking away from his hold.  
A deep hardy laugh escaped his lungs. “What p’tit got Remy want? Unless dat be an invitation chere,” he responded, exposing a thick Cajun accent, pulling me to his chest. A cold sensation ran down my spine, I wasn’t sure if it was a chill of exhilaration or a chill of repulsion. I pushed him away from me defiantly.  
“Ah don’t think so, Ah’d rather lie with dogs and get fleas than a swamp rat,” I snapped crossing my arms. A smug look appeared on his face. He was still wearing those stupid sunglasses I had seen him wear previously.  
“ya know it’s dark out, only blind people and douche bags wear sunglasses at night,” I informed him with annoyance.  
He smirked at my sass. “Or maybe dos of us dat got something to hide,” he retorted. I glared at him unsure of what he was talking about.  
“What, you high or something?” I asked almost concerned.  
Another boisterous laugh erupted. “P’tit got a lot to learn,” he stated backing up. Still confused I opened my mouth to speak but he was quickly gone again. I grunted in exhaustion and headed back to my car.

Sleep was in vain. I laid in bed wide awake tossing and turning, finally just giving up and staring up at the ceiling. I didn’t know why he had gotten into my head and invaded my thoughts. That smug look with his arrogant attitude, but I couldn’t get him out of my head and it perplexed me. He had gotten into my head like drugs into a vein. I needed to know more, like a smack addict needed more hit. Just one more.   
I sighed throwing the covers back. I had to have one more.

To call it a dive was putting it nicely. The walls were marked with holes and graffiti. Stains, of God only knew what, were on the floors and among the holes in the walls. The bar was seedy and dark. A smell of liquor, sweat, and tobacco, amongst the urine and vomit filled the atmosphere as I entered the threshold. I held back my disgust, holding my breath as the stench filled my nose and lungs. If I was to find him something told me this would be the place.  
I choked on the air as smoke wafted around me. I batted the air around me trying to clear a path free of vapors. My eyes scanned the area around me observing faces. Hoping to find one who wasn’t staring at me as if I was an entrée.  
“Yo’ shouldn’t have come her’ chere,” a voice spoke from behind me. I froze in my tracks, turning slowly to see his sharp jaw line even in the silhouette glow of the bar. I swallowed as my gaze took the sight of him in. He stood with his leg bent, foot propped up behind him, his hands playing with a deck of cards nimbly, those sunglasses still firmly in place.  
“Dis no place fo’ yo’,” he stated. I stood straighter pushing my shoulders back with defiance.   
“Why yo’ here?” He finally asked his gaze, I assumed, still firmly staring me down.  
I shrugged. “Not sure really,” I answered in a matter of fact tone. Why was I there?  
He eyed me carefully finally moving from where he stood.  
“Dis not a safe place,” he repeated himself. “Go home,” he ordered. “Fo’ somet’ing bad happen,” he stated coldly.  
“Is that a threat?” I challenged.  
“No p’tite dat a promise,” he said moving past me leaving me standing. I crossed my arms before turning to watch him.  
“I want to know who you are?” I finally spoke up as my eyes took in his stride.  
“Bes’ not to know,” I heard him call over his shoulder.  
I grunted in annoyance still unsatisfied by his remarks. I followed after him. I trailed him through the back of the bar and out onto the street. A crowd of drunks were beginning to form, all of them trying to catch a cab. I weaved in and out of the throng of people watching him closely. He ducked behind an alley with me close on his heels, then he disappeared. I yelled in frustration. Who the hell was this guy? I glared in the direction he had vanished. The mystery was killing me.


End file.
